Bont Vaypor White Leather Road Shoes

Bont's Vaypor shoes are lightweight and amazingly stiff and you can heat-mould them to your feet for an excellent fit.

You've probably heard of Bont shoes, if only because the UCI banned their Crono time trial shoe last year. Bonts certainly attract a lot of attention because they're very different from the norm – not just the TT shoes, but the rest of the range too.

For one, Bont shoes look distinctive. The longest part of most bike shoes is down the centreline, more or less. With the Vaypors, the point furthest forward is at your big toe, which makes a lot of sense to me because that's how your foot is shaped.

Bonts are a touch broader than normal in the forefoot too. If you find other brands tight in that area, it's worth trying these on for size. If you don't need that extra wiggle-room, it's easy to draw the upper in via a Velcro strap that starts out right down by your little toe, and you can alter the shape by heat-moulding them (more on that in a sec).

The extra width also means that a large road cleat like a Look Kéo or Shimano SPD-SL is fully supported by the sole. With every other pair of cycling shoes I have, I need to set the cleat so that the corner hangs slightly over the edge of the sole on the instep side in order to prevent my shoe from rubbing the crank. With these shoes, the whole of the cleat fixes against the sole providing a solid foundation for laying down the power.

The soles arc around the sides of the upper to cradle your foot and hold them steady. Around the heel cup, the carbon extends virtually up to the opening; you can see a lot of it although the top inch is covered by leather. It's similar at the front end. Although it's mostly covered up, the carbon forms a trough that your foot sits in.

This might cause discomfort but for the fact that you can easily heat-mould the carbon. You put your shoes in the oven at 70°C for 20mins until the resin becomes pliable, let them cool just a little, then put them on and allow them to cool properly... job done! You can do this as many times as you need to in order to get the perfect fit. I found mine a bit tight in the mid-foot so I heated them up, pushed them out a little in that area and they've been spot on ever since.

The carbon-fibre soles are among the most rigid I've used – maybe the stiffest. It's virtually impossible to bend at all, and because they're shaped precisely to my feet, they're perfectly comfortable despite featuring very little padding. That padding comes largely in the shape of a very thin EVA insole (that's also mouldable) and memory foam in the tongue. They don't feel soft and yielding like some shoes, but I've been out on big weekend rides in these and never had to give them a second thought. I've certainly not had any hot spots or any other notable discomfort.

The stack height – the distance from the bottom of the outsole to your foot – is just 3.6mm, which is lower than any other shoes I've ever used. Why's that an advantage? People sometimes go on about a low stack height equaling increased efficiency but I don't buy that. I mean, you'll have to put your saddle down a few millimetres if you swap to these shoes but I wouldn't get too excited about that.

The uppers are all-leather although the standard Vaypor uses microfibre and is £25 cheaper at £225. Both versions come with perforations above the toes and in the tongue for ventilation, and another vent on the instep.

In terms of weight, these are certainly light, my pair of size 47s weighing in at just 596g. You can get lighter but these really don't trouble the scales much at all, particularly considering that they feature a ratchet closure rather than just lightweight Velcro straps. The advantage is that they're super-easy to adjust from the saddle.

Bont's sizing, by the way, is much smaller than everyone else's. You might have to go a Euro size larger than usual. Bont do have a size chart on their website but it didn't work very well for me – I needed a size larger than it suggested.

There's very little protection on the bottom for those shiny carbon soles – just a little guard at the heel and toe. That keeps the weight down but it does mean the soles are vulnerable when you're off the bike. Those guards are replaceable if you wear them out but you really won't want to walk far in these.

Verdict

Lightweight and very stiff racing shoes that you can heat-mould for the perfect fit